About 20,000 police officers will be deployed to locations where district-level voting for the new Senate will be carried out on Sunday, said Pol Lt Gen Kornchai Klayklueng, an assistant national police chief.
Officers have been briefed to ensure the transport of ballots to and from election venues and that the vote as a whole runs smoothly, he said.
Aside from being required to maintain political neutrality, the police also work in tandem with officials from the Election Commission (EC) to ensure election regulations are strictly followed, he said.
The EC is pressing ahead with district-level voting even with a Constitutional Court ruling pending on whether regulations governing the poll are constitutional.
Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, a former election commissioner, said he applauded the poll body’s courage.
The EC’s decision to not postpone the voting also demonstrated its determination to restore democracy to the Senate and not allow the caretaker senators — their terms officially ended on May 11 — to prolong their time in the Upper House any longer, said Mr Somchai.
The seven commissioners who decided against following a recommendation made by an EC civil servant panel to suspend the vote until after the court ruling deserve praise and respect, he said.
That’s because if the court later rules the regulations in question are unconstitutional, the seven commissioners will find themselves held fully accountable for the decision to continue with the vote.
“That’s why these seven election commissioners deserve loud applause,” he said.
However, Mr Somchai admitted to some second thoughts after learning later about a last-minute tweak the EC had made in the balloting.
Late Friday night the commission made a new announcement on its Facebook page regarding the procedure for voting when there is only one candidate in one of the 20 approved professional groups competing.
Mr Somchai posted on his Facebook page that he was highly concerned the election results could be deemed invalid.
The sole candidate will be given four ballots to vote for candidates in other professional groups and the four marked ballots will be kept in one box designated for his or her professional group. Thus, that person’s choices will be revealed when the vote is counted, said Mr Somchai.
While Section 33 of the organic law on the composition of the Senate stipulates that voting is strictly confidential, many districts on Sunday will have just one candidate in some professional groups, he said.
The EC must therefore require the four ballots cast by these sole candidates to be kept in the ballot boxes of the other professional groups, so that they will be counted altogether with other ballots to preserve confidentiality, he said.
About 45,000 candidates from 20 professional groups have registered to compete in the polling. Only approved candidates can vote in the election. The winners of the district voting will move on to provincial votes on June 16, followed by a national vote on June 26 to select 200 members of the upper house.